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The Barrier of the Mind

- How to break down the barriers of our mind?
- Why does Buddhism compare our mind to an ox?
- Where exactly are the pure lands?
- Teachings in the sutras for cultivating the mind

How to break down the barriers of our mind ?

The barriers of our mind come from our five mental afflictions: greed, aversion, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If we can transform the five mental afflictions into the mind of cultivation by being sincere and maintaining a warm and caring attitude, respecting people and treating them with dignity, concern, understanding and compassion rather than seeing others as enemies, then we wouldn't need our mental defenses. 

Where exactly are the pure lands?

Although the idea of rebirth in Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land is much encouraged in Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings, the fundamental philosophy of pure land all comes down to the cultivation of a pure mind, a state of mind that is free of greed, hatred, and ignorance.

Why does Buddhism compare our mind to an ox?

The ox is an important symbol in Buddhist texts, representing both a wayward mind that needs to be disciplined and also the Buddha Vehicle, which carries all sentient beings toward supreme Buddhahood.

Teachings in the sutras for cultivating the mind

According to the Heart Sutra, the meaning of "mind" has two parts: one being temporal—the connection from thought to thought, and also the continuity from this life to the next; the other being spatial—phenomena and our environment as perceived by the mind. "No mind" is a liberated state of mind, an unobstructed mind, without any marks and traces, free of all attachments.

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